* Improve efficiency of preemption logic in clusters with many pending pods. ([#72895](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/72895), [@bsalamat](https://github.com/bsalamat))
* Fix scheduling starvation of pods in cluster with large number of unschedulable pods. ([#72619](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/72619), [@everpeace](https://github.com/everpeace))

* fix kubelet fail to delete orphaned pod directory when the kubelet's pods directory (default is "/var/lib/kubelet/pods") symbolically links to another disk device's directory ([#79094](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/79094), [@gaorong](https://github.com/gaorong))

- In clusters where the DryRun feature...

* StatefulSets now include an alpha scaling feature accessible by setting the `spec.podManagementPolicy` field to `Parallel`.  The controller will not wait for pods to be ready before adding the other pods, and will replace deleted pods as needed.  Since parallel scaling creates pods out of order, you cannot depend on predictable membership changes within your set. ([#44899](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/44899), [@smarterclayton](https://github.com/smarterclayton))...

- Static pods were taking extra time to be restarted after being updated.  Static pods that are waiting to restart were not correctly counted in `kubelet_working_pods`. ([#116995](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/116995), [@smarterclayton](https://github.com/smarterclayton)) [SIG Node]

- `kubectl run` has removed the previously deprecated generators, along with flags unrelated to creating pods. `kubectl run` now only creates pods. See specific `kubectl create` subcommands to create objects other than pods. 
([#87077](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/87077), [@soltysh](https://github.com/soltysh)) [SIG Architecture, CLI and Testing]

- Critical pods can now be created in namespaces other than kube-system. To limit critical pods to the kube-system namespace, cluster admins should create an admission configuration file limiting critical pods by default, and a matching quota object in the `kube-system` namespace permitting critical pods in that namespace. See https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/policy/resource-quotas/#limit-priority-clas...

- `LabelSelectors` specified in `topologySpreadConstraints` were validated to ensure that pods are scheduled as expected. Existing pods with invalid `LabelSelectors` could be updated, but new pods were required to specify valid `LabelSelectors`. ([#111802](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/111802), [@maaoBit](https://github.com/maaoBit))

* This fix prevents a GCE PD volume from being mounted...

*   Problems deleting local static pods have been resolved. ([#48339](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/48339),[...